The Lost Prince
by Shadowblade217
Summary: In an alternate timeline in which King Vegeta heeds Bardock's warning about Frieza, a five-year-old Vegeta is sent to Planet Earth along with the infant Saiyan Kakarot, in order to keep Vegeta safe from Frieza. Growing up on Earth with Goku and his friends, Vegeta is changed in ways he never could have imagined, and must ultimately choose his own destiny.


**Disclaimer: Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball GT and their respective franchises are the property of Funimation, Toei Animation, Fuji TV and Akira Toriyama.**

_**The Lost Prince**_

**Chapter 1: Refugees**

_Planet Vegeta_

_Age 737_

King Vegeta, ruler of the Saiyan race, sat upon his throne, glaring at the elite warrior who had just burst into the throne room.

"What is the meaning of this intrusion?" he demanded.

The soldier, a man he recognized, dropped to one knee and saluted his king. "Bardock has gone absolutely mad, sire! He claims that Frieza is coming to destroy the planet!"

King Vegeta's eyes widened in shock. "What? That's ridiculous. We're among Frieza's strongest fighting forces; there's no way he would try to destroy us!"

"That's what I said, sir, but Bardock wouldn't listen! He kept ranting about how his entire team was slaughtered; supposedly, Dodoria killed them on Frieza's orders! It's absurd!"

For the first time, King Vegeta actually focused on the soldier's words. "His team _is_ dead, though?"

The lower-class warrior looked up at him. "I don't know, sir. But he did return alone; that much is true."

King Vegeta contemplated what he'd heard. Ordinarily, he would have dismissed the soldier's report immediately… but something stopped him from doing so. There was no denying that Frieza could easily wipe out the Saiyans if he wanted to, but Vegeta had never suspected that the Arcosian would actually attack them.

But if he _was_ coming… it would be foolish to take chances.

"Clear the room!" the king called. "Everyone except my guards, out!"

Grumbling, the Saiyan politicians and members of Vegeta's retinue exited the room.

King Vegeta turned, his mind made up, to face the soldier. "Find Bardock, and bring him here. If he's telling the truth, I intend to find out."

.

After a few minutes, the same warrior returned, escorting a tall Saiyan in green armor, with red wristbands and a red bandanna around his forehead. His spiky hair stood up around his head, defying gravity, and a large scar was visible on his left cheek. His armor was torn and bloodstained in several places, but he remained strong and on his feet.

"Bardock," King Vegeta greeted the younger Saiyan. "What is this I've been told about you claiming that Frieza intends to attack us?"

Bardock bowed briefly before Vegeta, but it was immediately apparent that he had no time for pleasantries. "Sir, we have to hurry. Frieza can't have been very far behind me, and when he gets here, he intends to destroy us all. He sent Dodoria to attack my team while they were out on a mission, and they were all wiped out! I managed to survive, but Dodoria nearly killed me too."

The Saiyan king raised a hand, halting Bardock. "I've always known you to be a proud and brave warrior, Bardock. But you must admit, this theory of yours sounds ridiculous. Why would Frieza destroy the Saiyans? We're among his most powerful soldiers!"

"Exactly," Bardock snapped emphatically, "and as a result of that, he's afraid of us! He's worried that we'll rebel against him, and his solution is to eliminate our race as a threat, permanently!" He took a step closer to Vegeta, causing the guards to glare at him, and held his hands out, arguing his case. "You have to see that! We have to raise an army, before it's too…"

"King Vegeta!" a voice shouted, as another Saiyan soldier entered the room. "We've detected Lord Frieza's ship on our sensors, rapidly approaching the planet!"

Bardock, who had whirled to face the soldier, froze in horror. _Damn it… I'm too late!_

Rising to his feet, King Vegeta glared at the soldier. "Gather as many soldiers as you can find, and get them ready!" As the soldier ran from the room, he turned to Bardock. "It seems you were right after all, Bardock. Come with me."

As the Saiyan king strode out of the room, his red cape swirling behind him, Bardock quickly followed. "Where are we going?" he asked.

King Vegeta turned back to face Bardock. "My son is somewhere in Frieza's empire. I need you to help me get him to safety."

.

As alarms began to blare throughout the capital city of Planet Vegeta, the two Saiyan warriors made their way to the spaceport.

"His ship's getting closer," Bardock warned.

King Vegeta nodded. "Indeed. All right, here's the plan; I'll signal my son from down here, and then we'll go after Frieza."

"But where can he go?" Bardock asked in surprise. "If we can't stop Frieza, this entire planet will be a cloud of rubble floating in space within an hour! Nowhere on this entire world is safe! He can't come back here!"

"That's why I'm not planning on sending him down to the planet," Vegeta replied calmly. "There are plenty of Attack Pods on the military base where he's stationed, all of them programmed by Saiyans. All my son needs to do is get into one and get the hell out of there."

"Again… to _where?_ Nowhere in Frieza's entire empire will be safe for him! He looks just like you!"

King Vegeta paused, thinking that over. _He's right… there's no way my son could pass inconspicuously on a planet within the Planet Trade Organization. But where else could I send him?_

As a matter of fact, it was Bardock who came up with the perfect solution. "I've got it!" He snapped his fingers in realization. "My son, Kakarot; they shipped him out today, to a Class Five world outside the empire. What if we sent your son with him? He'd probably be better off with another Saiyan around to help him, anyway."

At first, Vegeta was irritated by the suggestion. _My son, needing another Saiyan to _help_ him?! The notion itself is completely laughable!_ He paused for a long moment, mulling it over in his mind. _Still… he has a point. At least this way my son wouldn't be left completely alone and cut off from contact with the empire for heaven knows how long._

"Very well," he answered. "I'll make the preparations. Find the coordinates of the planet your son was sent to, so we can relay them to my son's scouter."

Bardock nodded. "Yes, sir!"

.

_Thirty minutes later…_

By the time Bardock had identified the coordinates of Kakarot's destination, Frieza's ship had entered the upper atmosphere of Planet Vegeta, where it had come to a halt. The two Saiyans met up at the spaceport, where alarms continued to blare. At least a hundred elite Saiyan warriors, who had hastily been gathered to Vegeta's summons, lined up before them. Bardock, his injuries bandaged and treated as thoroughly as possible, stood beside King Vegeta.

"All right, men," Vegeta called out. "As some of you may know, Frieza is currently in orbit around our planet! What you most likely don't know is that he intends to destroy us all, and burn our world! But I have no intention of letting him do so!"

The soldiers roared in affirmation.

"Our time has come!" King Vegeta continued. "Today is the day when we will rise up and take back everything Frieza has stolen from us! Today, we strike down the tyrant and recover our planet, our land, and our pride!"

As deafening cheers rang out around him, the Saiyan king smiled. _Good, they're behind us now. Now we just have to win this battle._

He exchanged a glance with Bardock, feeling a tinge of foreboding. _If we can, that is._

"Now!" Vegeta ordered. "To arms!"

The Saiyans roared in response, their auras flaring up around them, burning the air with their potency. A hundred of his race's finest warriors, ready for battle.

Privately, King Vegeta hoped it would be enough.

.

_Frieza Planet 247_

A young Saiyan, five years old, gazed out through the viewports of his room, to the bustling activity outside.

Vegeta, prince of the Saiyan race, turned, sitting down on his bed and letting out a sigh. He hadn't seen his homeworld in quite some time, and he longed to see his father again.

Abruptly, his scouter beeped, indicating an incoming transmission. Picking it up and latching it into place on his, head, Vegeta tapped a button, answering the signal.

"Who is this?" he demanded.

"_Vegeta? My son?"_ a familiar voice called. _"Is that you?"_

Vegeta's eyes widened. "Father? What is this? Why are you contacting me?"

"_Vegeta, listen to me very carefully. You need to get off of that planet immediately. Do you understand?"_

Utterly confused, Vegeta frowned, listening more closely. "What are you talking about?" he asked. "What is this?"

King Vegeta sighed. _"My son… Frieza has come to Planet Vegeta. I fear that he intends to destroy it, and the Saiyan race as well. And none of us have the power to stop him."_

Vegeta's face twisted in horror. "W…What?! Destroy… the planet?! The entire Saiyan race?!"

"_Yes._" King Vegeta paused. _"But hope is not lost, my son. We have developed a strategy that will ensure our race's survival, and it depends on you."_

Vegeta was puzzled for a moment. "On me?"

"_Indeed. I'm sending you a series of coordinates to a Class Five planet, outside the empire. A Saiyan child named Kakarot, the son of a warrior named Bardock, was sent there today. I want you to take an Attack Pod and go to those coordinates. You'll be safe there."_

Vegeta glared incredulously at the scouter lens. "You want me to _run and hide?!_"

"_Listen to me!"_ King Vegeta snapped, silencing his son. He continued, his tone much more somber. _"If we cannot defeat Frieza, the Saiyan race will be all but wiped from existence today. You will be one of our race's last survivors, and, if I am gone, you must be the new leader of our race. You are the prince of the Saiyan race, Vegeta, and to uphold that, you must live. Now, get off of that planet and set a course for those coordinates _immediately!_ GO!"_

Vegeta considered his options, but it didn't take him long to reach his decision. He'd never liked working for Frieza anyway. "Very well, Father. Send me the coordinates."

"_I'm sending them now. Good luck to you."_ King Vegeta paused briefly, then continued,_ "If we never meet again, remember me… my son."_

Vegeta nodded. "I will, Father."

There was a beep, and the connection went dead. A moment later, Vegeta's scouter beeped again as it received the data transmission; the coordinates for this planet that his father had mentioned. The young prince couldn't make heads or tails of the information, but he knew that he could easily upload it into the computer of an Attack Pod.

His mind made up, Vegeta nodded to himself and began pulling his clothes out of the drawers in his closet. _I don't like it… but if Father's right, I have very little choice. Besides, if Frieza wins and kills my entire race, it's only a matter of time until he decides to kill me too. Like I said; no choice._

Donning his armor and packing his meager possessions into a large backpack, Vegeta took one last look back at his empty room, and then exited, closing the door quietly behind him.

.

_Planet Vegeta_

With a flare of blue light, Bardock, King Vegeta, and the rest of the Saiyan warriors blasted off, heading straight for Frieza's ship.

"Did you get the message to your son?" Bardock called over the rushing winds around them.

"Yes," King Vegeta replied, his eyes narrowing. "He'll follow the instructions, and he should be safe with your son. Frieza would never find them on that planet."

"That's the whole point, isn't it?"

"Obviously."

Bardock's eyes widened in surprise as waves of Frieza's soldiers began to emerge from the ship, flying straight towards the Saiyans. "Here they come!" he yelled.

"Fire!" Vegeta roared.

The Saiyans howled in bloodlust and opened fire, sending a massive barrage of ki blasts upwards, carving into the mass of alien soldiers.

Vegeta laughed, as his forces charged headlong into the swarm of Frieza's men. "Show them no mercy!" he snarled. "Crush them like the insects they are!"

Most of the Saiyans were considerably stronger than Frieza's soldiers, which gave them an initial advantage, but more of Frieza's fighters were still rushing to join the battle. The were met, however, by King Vegeta and Bardock.

Firing a furious, machine-gun-like volley of energy beams from both hands, the two Saiyan warriors blasted straight through the group of enemies, sending them tumbling helplessly away.

Finally, they came to a halt, facing Frieza's ship.

"FRIEZA!" Bardock roared, his voice echoing across the battlefield. "COME OUT AND FACE US YOURSELF, YOU COWARD!"

After a long moment of silence, the scarred Saiyan's request was granted. Frieza himself rose slowly out of the ship's open upper hatch, seated within his personal hovercar. His two henchmen, Dodoria and Zarbon, flanked him.

"Well, well, well," Frieza called mockingly. "This is certainly a surprise. The king of all Saiyans, leading a rebellion against me? How unusually… _stupid_ of you."

"Nice try, Frieza," King Vegeta replied coolly. "But I know what you were planning to do here. Destroy my planet, would you?" He laughed. "I don't think so!"

Frieza smirked. "Really. And do you two intend to stop me?"

Bardock grinned predatorily. "Actually… yeah. We do." His right hand lit up, glowing bright blue as he poured all of his energy into the growing attack.

As Bardock's attack continued to charge, he looked over to King Vegeta. "Vegeta… help me! Let's end this, once and for all!"

Vegeta smirked. "Why not?" His own left hand also ignited with blue energy, swirling in his palm as he raised his arm. Bardock did the same with his right arm, the two Saiyans holding their arms parallel to each other so that the energy blasts building in their hands almost touched.

"This is for all of the people we killed in your name, Frieza!" Bardock yelled.

"And for everything you've taken from our race!" King Vegeta added.

"_Here! HAVE IT!_" With this joint yell, they drew back their hands – Bardock's right, Vegeta's left – and shoved them forward, launching the combined attack as an intense blue beam of ki, twice as large as it would have been from either one of them.

Frieza's eyes narrowed, watching the incoming beam. His reaction wasn't what they had expected.

He started laughing, cackling maniacally. As he laughed, the tyrant lifted his right hand, curling his fingers into a fist and holding up his right index finger. A tiny orange energy sphere formed at the tip of his finger, and began to increase in size at a shocking speed as he held it up above his head. Within a matter of seconds, it was massive, at least a hundred meters across.

Frieza smirked, and flicked his index finger forward, launching the Death Ball directly towards the two Saiyans, the battling armies, and the planet itself.

Bardock's eyes widened in horror, as did King Vegeta's. When their combined blast collided with the Death Ball, rather than overpowering it or even slowing it down, their attack was simply absorbed into the much larger energy sphere.

"No!" King Vegeta roared, glaring wildly at Frieza in disbelief, but there was nothing anyone could do about it.

As Frieza laughed in triumph, the Death Ball engulfed Bardock and King Vegeta, before crashing into the mass of soldiers below. Hundreds were incinerated instantly, Saiyans and Frieza's soldiers alike.

As Bardock's armor shattered, an image suddenly appeared in his mind's eye; another of the psychic visions that had prompted him to incite this short-lived rebellion against Frieza.

_A young man… no, two of them… stood side by side, facing Frieza on an unknown, alien world. One was taller, with spiky, tousled hair; the spitting image of Bardock, minus the scar on his face._

_The other was shorter, with spiky black hair that stood up from his head in an almost flame-like pattern; except for his lack of facial hair, he was very similar in appearance to King Vegeta. Both Saiyans were in fighting stances, and their dark eyes were firm with resolve._

"Kakarot?"_ Bardock murmured. _"And… is that Prince Vegeta?"_ Yes, it must be! These two will succeed where their fathers failed. They'll finish what we started here._

Even through the pain, he smiled. _They will face Frieza. And they will defeat him._

Simultaneously, the same thought flashed through the minds of both Bardock and King Vegeta.

_Farewell… my son._

And, with a blinding flash of light, the intense heat and pressure of the Death Ball obliterated both proud Saiyan warriors, leaving nothing but dust, a moment before the energy sphere crashed into the surface of Planet Vegeta.

.

_Frieza Planet 247_

As Vegeta opened the hatch of his Attack Pod, he felt a chill run up his spine. Lifting his head, the young Saiyan glanced around, trying to determine the source, but nothing presented itself.

Shaking his head, the five-year-old climbed into the Attack Pod and sealed the door behind him. Entering the coordinates from his scouter into the pod's computer, he strapped himself in and pressed the button to activate the engines.

_All right, Kakarot, or whatever your name is,_ Vegeta thought. _I'm on my way._

With a roar, the Attack Pod blasted off from the launch pad and vanished into the sky, breaking through the atmosphere into space.

.

_On the same day, in Age 737, on a nondescript planet known as Earth, two important events came to pass. A pair of small vessels entered the atmosphere, each carrying a young child._

_The first child, just a baby, who had been named Kakarot by his parents, landed in a forest, on the slopes of Mount Paozu. He was taken in by Son Gohan, an elderly martial artist who raised the boy as his own son, and renamed him Son Goku._

_The second child – Vegeta, the five-year-old prince of the Saiyans – was not on the same approach vector, and so landed in a very different part of the world, hundreds of miles to the south._

_Fate seems to have an interesting way of working itself out, though, because this particular landing site would eventually turn out to be highly advantageous for both boys… even if it didn't have the most auspicious of beginnings._

.

_Kame House_

_Planet Earth_

Master Muten Roshi, the Turtle Hermit, sat on the porch of Kame House, napping in the warm sun. Wearing his ubiquitous red-and-yellow Hawaiian shirt, white baggy pants, and red-rimmed sunglasses, the old martial artist sighed deeply as he inhaled the salty sea air, enjoying the warmth of the sunlight, the cool breeze, and the gentle sound of the ocean.

A sound which was suddenly interrupted by a deafening roar and a shockwave that shook the entire house.

Roshi shot bolt upright, just in time to see a large object skip repeatedly off of the ocean's surface and slam into the beach in a cloud of sand, dust, smoke, and steam.

Jumping to his feet, Roshi hurried down off of the porch and across the beach to where the object had come to rest. As he drew closer, he could tell that a large crater, about ten meters across and two meters deep, had been blasted into the beach. And resting at the bottom of the crater was a large object.

Roshi's eyes widened when he got a better look at it. The "object" was obviously artificial; it was spherical and made from some kind of metal. An odd triangular insignia was emblazoned on one side, and the metal surface was clearly still red-hot.

_Some kind of plane, maybe?_ Roshi mused, tapping his chin. _Or maybe–_ His train of thought was cut off abruptly as, with a click and a hiss of compressed air, the sphere opened, a large section lifting up to expose its interior.

Slowly, a small figure, no more than three or four feet tall, emerged from the sphere, staggering and falling to its hands and knees in the sand. As it crawled up out of the crater, Roshi could see that it was actually a child; a young boy, no more than five or six years old, by the look of him. His hair was jet-black and was spiked up in a pattern similar to a flame. He was wearing unusual clothing: a blue bodysuit, which covered everything except his hands, feet, and head; white gloves on his hands, and white boots on his feet; and, to top it off, what appeared to be white body armor covering his torso, complete with light brown shoulder pads and leg guards. To complete the look, he was wearing some kind of odd, mechanical device on the left side of his head, with a blue glass lens over his left eye like a screen.

Feeling like he should offer to help, Roshi took a tentative step forward. The boy lifted his head in surprise, apparently not having known that the old martial artist was standing in front of him.

"Who the hell are you?" he asked, his voice high-pitched and grating, as he rose to his feet and brushed the sand off of his hands and legs. "And while we're at it, where the hell am I?"

Taken aback by the harsh response, Roshi took a second to respond. "Um… my name is Master Muten Roshi. And as to where you are, well…" He gestured around. "In essence, you're on my island."

The boy sighed. "Great." He looked around, taking in his surroundings. "Have you, by any chance, seen another of these pods land recently?"

Roshi shook his head slowly. "Uh… no. I'm pretty sure I'd remember another one of these crashing in front of my house."

"Damn it!" the boy cursed. "How the hell am I supposed to find him now?" he muttered to himself.

Roshi was very confused by the situation, but he could sympathize with the kid, at least. "Hey… if you need a place to stay for a while, until you can find whoever it is you're looking for, you're welcome to stay in Kame House." He pointed to the large pink house standing nearby. "I've got plenty of guest rooms."

The boy considered, then shrugged. "Fine. As long as I'm adjusting to this planet, I might as well make use of whatever residence I can find." He turned and started off towards the house.

"Wait!" Roshi called, causing the boy to stop. "Since you're going to be staying here for a while, I should probably know your name. I mean, I told you mine, it's only fair." He chuckled slightly at his own joke, but the boy didn't seem amused.

"All right, then." The boy turned, looking back at Roshi with black eyes that seemed to carry a level of intelligence that belied his young age. "You may call me Vegeta." He smirked. "Prince of all Saiyans."

.

_AN: Hello, everyone, and welcome to my newest story, _The Lost Prince_! I came up with the idea for this story fairly recently, and I ultimately got so excited about it that I decided to write it down. In case anyone didn't get it, the overall plot of this story is that, due to a change in the timeline where King Vegeta decides to listen to Bardock's warning about Frieza instead of just ignoring him, the Vegeta we know and love – who's only five years old at this point – was sent to Earth along with the newborn Saiyan baby Kakarot. The only problem is, while Kakarot landed in the same place he did in canon, Vegeta lands on Master Roshi's island. How is this going to change the course of the series? Just you wait!_

_I haven't read or seen the entire story of _Dragon Ball_, so I'll be skipping over the minor stuff in this first series and only covering the major plot points – Grandpa Gohan's death, the start of the first quest for the Dragon Balls, the World Martial Arts Tournaments, etc. I fully intend to explain what happened between each chapter, as there will likely be a time skip between each of the first few chapters, so that the readers can follow where the story's going; I just don't want to have to write filler for this story, so that I can get right to the exciting parts. So, yeah. Just so you all know._

_Also, if you guys like this story so far, make sure to check out my other DBZ story, _Dark Heritage_! It has a very different setting than this story – the basic premise for that one is that Cooler decides to intercept Kakarot's Attack Pod after Planet Vegeta's destruction instead of letting the ship go; Kakarot is then raised as one of Cooler's elite soldiers. It should also be a really good story once I get into it; I've only published one chapter so far, but feel free to read it and let me know what you think!_

_I tremendously appreciate comments and feedback on my work, so if anyone has a comment or question regarding this chapter or the story as a whole, please review! (No hate, please)._

_See you all next time!_


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